Page 153 of Fierce-Matt

“Something special,” he said. “And it’s making you laugh.”

In the past three months they’d had a lot of laughter.

No more fights, but a few annoyances. She’d take that any day.

They were talking and having fun. They opened up with good and bad days and he’d made her feel as if she was the strongest version of herself.

For the first time in a long time, she was happy in her career choices and saw a long future.

She was sticking.

Her father was home and doing well. He’d recovered from his fall fully.

He was only going to decline with his dementia, but for now, he was staying steady and her parents even went on a long weekend vacation. Her father kept talking about another trip.

Everything was falling into place in her life. Even her brother hadn’t made a peep in months.

She opened the bag and pulled out a jewelry box.

“Matt,” she said slowly. “What’s this?”

He put the remote down, then took the box out of her hand and flipped the lid.

“It’s an engagement ring. Six months ago today, I came into this bar with Ben to get a beer and a better look at you.”

“You remembered the date?” Her hand was shaking in anticipation of that gorgeous ring to land on it.

“I haven’t forgotten a thing about you,” he said. “And I never will.” He got down on one knee. “I’m asking you to marry me. I know I’ve earned your love. I’ve earned your trust.”

“You have,” she said. “And I want to be your wife.” A tear slipped down her cheek.

“I haven’t asked yet.”

“Don’t be so slow!”

He laughed. “It took me over a decade to tell you how I feel about you. Not anymore. I’ll be saying it every day for the rest of my life. I love you, Anya Emerson. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!”

He put the ring on her finger, stood up and lifted her in his arms. There was applause all around. She hadn’t been paying attention, but now noticed Matt’s parents, Ben, Eve, her mother, and other staff that were working. And Jolene Fierce standing there with her arms crossed, nodding her head.

She sent Jolene a wink and a nod back.

“Best day of my life,” Matt said.

“It’s only going to get better!”

“That was a hard one,”Jolene said to her sisters-in-law the next day on the phone.

“I didn’t think it was going to work,” Carolyn said. “You had little interaction with them and when you told us about their fight over Grace interfering, I thought it’d be the first failure of the group. Do you know what happened with Grace and Matt?”

“No clue,” she said. “I didn’t ask. It wasn’t my business.”

“It’s always your business,” Diane said.

She laughed. “It is, but not this time. It all worked out. Grace is overjoyed all her children are married or engaged. Phoebe got engaged to Elias last month.”

“You told us,” Carolyn said. “And whined that you didn’t get to play matchmaker there.”